Canada: Alberta reports 1st-ever outbreak of PEDv

The Canadian province of Alberta has reported its first-ever outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea (PED) virus.

The virus was discovered on January 3, 2019, in a 400-head swine operation in Alberta. A private veterinarian reported the outbreak to the provincial agricultural department. The reporting led to the containment of the facility.

PED in Canada since 2014

According to the Alberta Pork website, the 1st case of PED in Canada was confirmed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in January 2014 on a swine farm in Ontario. Since then, PED has also been reported in Manitoba, Quebec and Prince Edward Island. The disease was confirmed in the United States in May 2013.

PEDv is a coronavirus which causes vomiting, watery diarrhoea and dehydration. Mortality rates can run up to 100% in piglets prior to weaning; in grow-finisher pigs they are much lower as the diarrhoea is milder.

Banff Pork Seminar

Coincidentally, the news about the outbreak broke at the same moment when one of the major swine conferences was going on in Alberta: Banff Pork Seminar, drawing visitors from all over the planet.